A mission from God nears its end

11 February 2003 — 11:00am

It began like many one-night stands - drunk, perverted and splayed out at the back of a darkened cinema. But it was destined to be far more than a fling, developing into a full-blown obsession, an infatuation lasting almost 15 years.

"I'd been under-age drinking at the time and my cousins, Royna and Kester, pretty much dragged me in. I didn't even have to pay," recalled Matt Roberts, who was a not-so-sweet 16 at the time.

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Thus began his fixation with The Blues Brothers show, a Friday night institution in Melbourne prompting hundreds of Blues Brothers fans and scores of impersonators pile into the now defunct Valhalla theatre for a manic night of audience participation during the screening of John Landis' 1980 cult classic The Blues Brothers. The goofy musical comedy starred a fresh-faced Dan Aykroyd, a flabby, dead-pan John Belushi, and many blues legends, including Cab (Minnie the Moocher) Calloway, Aretha (Think) Franklin and Ray (Shake Your Tailfeather) Charles.

Belushi died in 1982 at the peak of the Blues Brothers craze after bingeing on cocaine, heroin and alcohol.

After all these years, time is also tight for the Blues Brothers show. Launched at the Richmond Valhalla 20 years ago, it moved with the Valhalla to Northcote in 1987, endured when the Valhalla became the Westgarth Cinema in 1996 and will wind up at the Westgarth in July.

At its peak, it would pull audiences of about 400 and 30 dedicated performers. These days, the show, which now screens only on the first Friday of every month, would be lucky to draw 30 viewers, and the core group of Blues Brothers impersonators has dwindled to six.

Now 30, Matt Roberts is hanging up his pork-pie hat, ripping off his thin black tie and stovepipe trousers, removing his Ray-Bans and, well, growing up. After performing in more than 250 shows, he's calling it quits.

The Westgarth Cinema's owners, cousins Michael Protopapa and Michael Yiannoudes, are too polite to spell it out, but you get the distinct feeling that they have also been tolerating the Friday night dress-ups longer than they would have liked.

They're planning to expand the Westgarth and will be spending $2.5 million on refurbishing and adding three more screens.